Best Road trip ever
by cartoon-crazy987
Summary: Shawn, Gus, Lassie, and Juliet are sent to a police convention in Washington! but what happens when a body turns up at the local high school? Can Shawn keep his nose out of what is clearly none of his business or will he end up in loads of trouble?
1. Chapter 1

**Best road trip ever**

**By Annita**

**Summry: Shawn, Gus, Lassie and Juliet all take a road trip to a police convention! In Washington no less! But what happens when a body is found at a local high school? Can Shawn keep his nose out of what is clearly none of his business or will his meddling get him into some deep poo. **

**I love Shawn Whump, just keep that in mind when your reading this, because I guarantee you that I will most likely end up putting it in here, no matter how hard I try to resist it. Oh and don't come here lookin for romance of any kind, no shules and no slash. I don't DO romance…simply cuz Im bad at writing it due to the fact that there is not a romantic bone in my body. **

**And so, here we go! My first ever Psych Fanfic…eeee! Im giddy! This was inspired by the ridiculously cold weather we have been having here in Arlington. Though it has warmed back up…man Washington weather is just ridiculous. **

"A Police convention?" Shawn all but shouted staring in disbelief at the chief

"What in the name of Lori Loughlin would make you think that I would want to go to a police convention?" The chief raised an eyebrow in disapproval,

"Mr. Spencer-"she began, only to be cut of by an equally incredulous head detective.

"I agree Chief! A police convention is no place for some civilian, especially _that_ civilian." Lassiter scowled shooting a glare at Shawn. Shawn's brow furrowed making him look like a confused child.

"What! I'm not just some civilian! I'm head psychic detective! Of course I should go!" Shawn whined completely switching the subject of his argument in an attempt to defend his self proclaimed title. The chief pinched the bridge of her nose, an idea forming in her mind. Reverse psychology seemed to work on most children, and since Shawn was more child then he was adult…

"I don't know Mr. Spencer, Detective Lassiter may be right; I don't think a police convention-"Shawn cut her off again irritating her immensely.

"Ohhh! But chief! I'm sensing that I _need_ to be there! It could very well prove to be a matter of life and DEATH!" Shawn waved his hand near his head as if showing the two people in the room some sort of psychic proof. Lassiter rolled his eyes, his hand planted firmly on his hips.

"Tell me you're not buying this dog and pony show!" The head detective ground out threw clenched teeth, knowing full well that there was no point in arguing. If Spencer wanted to go, and the chief wanted him to go, then he was going. But still, he had to try. The chief fixed him with a glare.

"You, Mr. Spencer, and Detective O'Hara will be heading to the Arlington Washington annual Police convention tomorrow morning . While your there I want you on your best behavior," the chief paused here and fixed Shawn with a pointed look,

"I don't need anyone over there complaining-"

"But what-"Shawn interrupted but wisely shut his mouth when he saw the anger that flashed across the chief's face. Instead the man child opted to raise his hand. It was Lassiters turn to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration. The chief sighed utterly exasted by Shawn's antics,

"Yes, what is it Mr. Spencer."

"What kind of stuff even goes on at a police convention? Will there be a bunch of cool new police weapons? Do the CSI guys get to come to? Is there an award for the cop that caught the worst criminal ever? Will there be pineapple? What do you have to wear to one of these things? At that comic convention thing people where dressing up as a hole bunch of comic book characters! Can I dress up as the terminator! And-"

"Mr. Spencer, PLEASE!" the chief snapped cutting off Shawn's ramblings. Shawn stared at her blankly, either waiting for her to answer all of his ridiculous inquiries, or continuing on silently with the questions in his mind. Either way Karen didn't care, a sleepless week with a new born baby did that to a person. She was just thankful the hyperactive man was silent.

"Just, Go get packed. You leave tomorrow at seven, and before you ask, yes I mean Seven AM." Shawn deflated somewhat at the thought of having to get up so early.

"But I don't have a ride." Shawn suddenly blurted glancing mischievously at Lassieter.

" NO!" Lasseiter yelled loudly turning on the pseudo physic,

"There is no way in _hell_ that I am spending hours in a car with _you_, Spencer. What's wrong with your bike?" The detective seethed, anger flying from his body like radioactive waves. Shawn sighed sadly,

"Let's just say the last case I worked did not end well for my poor motorcycle."

"What about Mr. Guster, why don't you have him take you! Or your dad even, Hell I don't care if you have to hitch hike, you are NOT riding with me and that's final!" Lassiter ground out crossing his arms stubbornly. Dead set on keeping Shawn out of his car for the trip to Washington.

"Well, for one thing, Gus would never drive me that far! Something about his tires or some other unimportant nonsense like that. Secondly: I would rather watch a marathon of the spelling be championships and other equally unentertaining shows then have my dad take me and thirdly-"Karen jumped up, unable to take it anymore,

"Detective Lassiter! You WILL take Shawn to Washington with you or so help me I will be searching for a new head detective within the next 24 hours and you will be searching for a new job! Do I make my self clear?." Without waiting for his reply Karen pointed her finger towards the door in such a menacing fashion that neither Shawn nor Lassieter dare disobey. Both spun on their heels and headed for the door at the same time, which of course caused the two to become stuck at the doors entrance. Shawn stepped back and gestured for Lassie to go ahead, The head detective took a step and was cut off as Shawn ducked passed him and made it out of the door way first. Lassiter growled angrily, his face flushing red at the fact that he had already fallen for that trick once before. Once both of them where out of the office and the door was closed firmly behind them Shawn said,

"Don't worry Lassie, she wouldn't really fire you!" Smiling brightly Shawn smacked Lassiter on the back and strode confidently towards the exit. Turning around the psyich smiled at Lassiter who still hadn't moved from in front of the chiefs door and yelled,

"See you tomorrow Lassinater!"

**Here we go! This is my first chapter! Just getting it all ready for you guys to read. Im going to type non stop until four in the morning! And by then I should have a reasonably good chunk of story going. But I just wanted this out..so you could give me some feed back…oh and by the way I have no clue if there is really such a thing as a police convention but for the sake of my story, there is now. **

**I print out all reviews and tape them to the backs of my closest friends and relitives, calling them by the reviewrs name and showering them with love and affection, so please send me a review, my poor little sister doesn't have one taped to her back yet and she is starting to feel pretty sad because I don't love her. **


	2. The trip starts

**Hahahaha, chapter two of a story that no one probably remembers. Since I posted chapter one like a bazillion years ago. Hehehehe.**

**Also this was very hard to write, and so its not my best work. Not by a long shot. I just needed to write something. I hope you understand. **

* * *

Lassiter leaned impatiently against his new Crown Victorian. Glaring angrily at a wad of pink bubble gum stuck to the side of the pavement Carlton thought about Spencer. Somehow the gum plastered to the ground reminded him of the self proclaimed Psychic. A certain _late_ self proclaimed psychic.

"O'Hara!" Lassiter barked suddenly, his gravely voice startling the junior detective.

"Yes, Carlton? She asked, closing the book she had been reading in an attempt to pass the time.

"Let's go! I can't be held responsible for that pain in the ass if he doesn't even show up." The irate detective snapped, not needing to clarify exactly what pain in the ass he was referring to.

"Carlton…" Juliet drawled a lecture evident in her voice. Lassiter sighed and pulled his hand away from the cars door handle.

"Fine." He mumbled taking a step back and crossing his arms over his chest peevishly. A voice suddenly called out from behind the ever grumpy detective, a voice that did nothing to ease the throbbing headache already building in his temples.

"Lassie-face!" Shawn Spencer called stepping up next to the head detective. Lassiter couldn't help himself. He growled. Upon hearing Shawn Spencer's voice, Carlton Lassiter growled.

"Whoa! Down boy!" Shawn laughed, apparently, taking obvious pleasure in Lassiter's anger. Turning away from the disgruntled head detective Shawn's hazel eyes fell on Juliet.

"Heeey Jules." The pseudo psychic greeted, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. Juliet smiled slightly in response and glanced down at her watch

"Hey Shawn. Where are your bags?" The blond asked glancing at Shawn's empty hands. Smiling mischievously Shawn pointed at the trunk of Lassiter's car.

"Already put them in the back." Shawn declared smiling proudly. "Oh and sorry were late. Gus just _haad_ to stop and get coffee." Shawn apologized loudly; making sure his best friend herd him.

"Nuh uh!" came the indigent response from behind the trio

"You're the one that just _haad_ to get that chocolate chip muffin." Gus snapped walking slowly towards the group. A cup of Starbucks coffee clutched lightly in his right hand.

"Nonsense." Shawn breathed airily waving away his friend's rebuttal as if it was a pesky fly.

"Anyway!" Lassiter yelled, his temper getting the better of him,

"Let's get going shall we?" Shawn cut in, finishing Lassiter's sentence for him. The angry head detective was about to agree with his long time nuisance when he was suddenly struck with a gut retching realization.

"You broke into my car?" The head detective fumed angrily, his face turning slightly red at the thought. Shawn shrugged sheepishly

"I wouldn't really call it breaking since nothing really got broken. I just kinda happened to stumble across your keys and I just kinda happened to return them after putting my stuff away and you just happened not to notice…" Shawn explained reaching over and pulling open the car door. A growl tore itself from Lassiter's throat once again. He couldn't help it, it was either express his anger in the form of a growl or express it in the form of pulling out his gun and shooting Spencer in the leg. Even though the latter would be much more satisfying for the Head Detective, he was pretty sure the chief would frown upon such an activity. No matter how therapeutic it may be. Taking a deep breath Lassiter turned around to face his car, swearing quietly when he felt the slight resistance of his foot. Glancing down, Carlton notice that the wad of gum he had been glaring at angrily was stuck firmly to his shoe. Shawn smirked when he noticed Carlton's predicament and was about to make a smart ass comment about it to Gus when his friend suddenly stumbled forward and dropped his coffee. Gasping quietly Shawn grabbed Gus by the shoulders to stop the emanate face plant. Looking up quickly the pseudo psychic was pleased to find that both detectives where too preoccupied with their own endeavors to notice the half unconscious Gus.

"Okay, in you go." Shawn whispered shoving Gus into the back seat of Lassiter's car. Pushing Gus up against the window Shawn pulled a pair of dark glasses out of his pocket.

"Put these on..." He mumbled slipping them on his best friends face.

"Shawn, you drug…drugged me?" Gus groaned slurring his words weakly.

"Pssshhh, of course not buddy!" Shawn laughed loudly wincing as Lassiter slid into the driver's seat, slamming the door loudly behind him.

"Again…" Gus mumbled as he fell into a drug induced sleep courtesy of Shawn.

**Line break**

An hour and 93, 'are we there yets' later and Lassiter was this close to driving his car right off the road. The Head Detective clutched the wheel tightly, his knuckles turning white as he strangled the steering wheel instead of the pseudo psychic riding in back. A migraine was definitely building in his temples. The worst part was that they still had about 17 hours of driving ahead of them.

"Hey Jules." Shawn suddenly blurted, causeing the vein in lassiters head to throb.

"Do you have a permanent marker I could use?" without responding Juliet Lifted up the arm rest in the middle of the car, she was used to spending a lot of time with children, she knew how board they got and how irritating. Especially during long car rides. This was why Shawn's antics didn't bother Juliet as much as they bothered Lassiter. After a few minutes of silent digging Juliet pulled out her hand and tossed a thick black perminate marker to Shawn.

"You better not draw on my car." Lassiter warned. Glancing at Shawn through the rear view mirror. Shawn made a clicking noise with his tongue and glared at Lassiter.

"Pa-lease! I'm not five you know." Shawn rolled his eyes and shifted his attention to Gus. Who was still sleeping soundly. Smirking mischievously Shawn pulled the cap off of the pen with his teeth and grabbed the glasses covering Gus's face. Throwing the sunglasses on the ground haphazardly, Shawn got to work. Lassiter watched through the mirror as Shawn, chuckling quietly, drew two circles around Gus's eyes. He then drew a mustache, a goatee and added eyelashes to the circles. Admiring his work for a few seconds Shawn smiled and leaned back in his seat silently. Lassiter reveled in the quiet for a whole two minutes.

"Ugh!" this is so BORING! How much further is it!" The man child yelled loudly, Causing Lassiter to jump and swerve into on coming traffic.

"Damn it Spencer!" Lassiter yelled angrily, getting the car back under control.

"Well? How much longer?" Shawn repeated. Lassiter ground his teeth together.

"You mean since the last time you asked? Because that was five minutes ago." Shawn sighed and was silent for another whole minute.

"I spy-"

"No." Lassiter snapped. Refusing to even let Shawn finish his sentence.

"A boring grumpy stick in the mud." Shawn mumbled. Finishing anyway.

**LINE BREAK**

"Shawn!" Gus suddenly yelled wakening up from his two hour slumber. Shawn stopped kicking the back of Lassiter's seat and glanced over at his friend.

"Gus! Buddy! You're awake! Finally, I was getting REALLY board and Lassie wont even play I spy with me!" Gus blinked a few times, trying to clear the smog in his brain left from a drug induced sleep. Understanding dawned on the pharmaceutical rep, his expression changing from confused, to angry. Really really angry. Like, the hulk _smash_ kinda angry.

"Gus?" Shawn hazard scooting toward the opposite side of the car.

"You drugged me Shawn! Again!" Gus yelled reaching over and punching Shawn in the arm.

"Ow!" Shawn yelled rubbing his arm painfully. Juliet turned and glanced at the two bickering friends.

"You've drugged him before?" she asked looking concerned; Shawn's shoulders slumped as he looked up at the cars ceiling.

"Yeah but-"

"No buts Shawn! You told me that we where going on a stake out with Juliet and Lassiter! You said it was for a case! You said it would take a half an hour to get there! And its-" Gus glanced down at his watch, "It's been two hours! Where are we really going Shawn?"

"Okay okay…" Shawn sighed in defeat and lifted his hands up in surrender; he was trying really hard not to laugh at Gus. It was extremely difficult to take his friend seriously with a marker moustache.

"The truth is…"" Shawn looked at the ground sadly

"Lassiter finally snapped and is donating us to the government super human program where we will be fused with animals and experimented on." Shawn shrugged. "Sorry buddy."

"Were going to a police convention. In Washington." Juliet explained, taking pity on Gus. Gus sat in his seat quietly. Soaking in this new piece of information. Eyeing Gus worriedly Shawn was about to say something when Gus let out a deep breath.

"Washington." He mumbled. Obviously still in shock.

"What am I going to do for work? I can't just-"Shawn lifted up a hand.

"I already took care of that for you. You're on vacation with your terminally ill cat, Mrs. Pickles." Shawn explained happily. As if this was supposed to be a good thing. Gus stared at his friend wide eyed, his mouth opening and closing as the pharmaceutical rep tried to come up with something to say. Finally giving up Gus turned away from Shawn and stared out the window angrily.

"Gus?" Shawn asked innocently, poking his friend in the shoulder. Gus ignored him. Lassiter's eyes flicked to his rear view mirror as he stared at Spencer in disbelief. He didn't know what to think about Spencer drugging Guster and pretty much kidnapping him, twice. So instead he just ignored the two in the back and continued driving, satisfied that Shawn was no longer kicking the back of his seat. Juliet had the same idea; she turned around and continued to read.

"Shawn!" Gus suddenly yelled, noticing his reflection in the car window for the first time.

"Yesssss?" Shawn drawled innocently.

"You DREW on my face!" Gus yelled again, whipping his head around to glare at his soon to be dead friend.

"I plead the seventh." Shawn smiled. Crossing his arm triumphantly.

"You mean the..." Gus trailed off as his eyes landed on the black marker lying on the ground next to his foot. Bending over Gus picked up the drawing utensil and stared at it. Slowly, without taking his eyes off the pen, he turned to face Shawn.

"Guuuus." Shawn warned pressing up against the far end of the car Gus looked up, a malicious smile lighting up his features. Suddenly he lunged, the tip of the pen made contact with the side of Shawn's face. Shawn yelled loudly and batted away the pen and his friend's hand. Gus just kept on with his attack. Hell bent on getting revenge. Lassiter stared blankly at the road a head of him. A silent mantra of, "There would be no where to hide the bodies, there would be no where to hide the bodies," running steadily through his mind.

**Line brake**

After a lot more driving they finally reached their hotel. It was a small run down place, just like the town of Arlington. Though it was dark outside so a full examination of the town wouldn't be possible until the next day, while they were on their way to the convention at the high school. After hotel keys had been handed out to everyone, Lassiter stomped off to his own room, happy to be away from both Shawn and Gus, the two had been arguing non stop ever since Guster had woken up! Not only that, but the town of Arlington was freezing cold. A quick check of the temperature showed it to be around thirteen degrees! Finally reaching his door Lassiter shook off the cold, slipped the little plastic card into the doors lock he stepped inside. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his frayed nerves. Just as the head detective was beginning to relax a loud banging sounded from the room next to his,

"Come on Gus! It's cold out here! Let me insiiiide!" Shawn's voice was easily heard through the thin walls. Lassiter sighed again. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

**HOLEY CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP! Do you realize that I wasn't just being lazy and not writing? It seriously took me this long to put this stupid chapter out there! I just wanted to have them skip ahead to chapter three, but that wouldn't make any sense so I HAD to write this. GAH! I hated writing this chapter! I cut a bunch out of the** **original plot because it was TOO LONG and TO FILLER…Y…..to fillery? Fillerie? Whatever**.


	3. This is Chapter 3

**SOOOOOOOOO, did you know that,**

**Threw and through have two completely different meanings? In my seventeen years of life, I never had any idea. **

* * *

Shawn let loose a huge sneeze, startling every person in the car.

"Damn it Spencer!" Lassiter yelled, once again directing his car back into the appropriate lane.

"Sorry!" Shawn sniffed accepting a tissue that Juliet handed him. "But _someone_ locked me out of the room last night! And apparently Washington is going through a second ice age!" The pseudo psychic whined stuffily, while blowing his nose in Juliet's tissue. Gus snorted in response.

"That was only the beginning Shawn. I'm still mad at you for kidnapping me. Again." the pharmaceutical rep snapped angrily. Shawn scowled at his friend and tossed his soiled tissue in Gus's lap,

"Dude, you're STILL angry about that? That was sooo, two days ago."

"That was yesterday!" Gus yelled loudly, flicking Shawn's tissue off his lap in disgust. Shawn watched it flutter to the ground and then leaned back in his seat.

"Whatever. It's still way in the past." Much to Lassiter's pleasure the rest of the ride was ridden in silence. Gus continued to mope as he watched the small town of Arlington zoom past him. There were little shops and quiet a few bars all aligned on the streets and an old fashion movie theater that claimed to sell movie tickets for five bucks a pop. Shawn stared at all of the people going about their business, wrapped in hats scarf's mittens and thick coats. He shuddered and rubbed his arms at the sight of the white vapor that came out of everyone's nose and mouths.

"You dragged me away from California, for _this?" _Gus suddenly mumbled obviously noticing the same thing that Shawn had been noticing.

"Dude, it looks freezing out there!" Shawn replied examining some paintings on a wall going up a steep hill.

"Don't be sissies, its just a little cold weather. Arlington's in the middle of a cold snap is all." Carlton mumbled trying to end his two unwanted passenger's conversation. He had really been enjoying his peace and quiet.

"How do you _know_ that?" Shawn snorted directing his attention to the back of Lassiters head.

"I watch the news, Spencer." Lassiter growled, stopping at a stoplight next to a Safeway."

"Who-" Shawn's rebuttal was cut short when he looked across the road and saw a bank sign that showed the current time, and temperature. Apparently it was 8:00am and 10 degrees outside.

"Duuude! It's like negative 50 degrees out there!" He whined loudly, pointing a finger at the sign. Gus squinted at it as they drove by and sighed at his friend's dramatics.

"Its, TEN degrees out side, Shawn. Stop being overly dramatic." Shawn fell silent for the rest of the ride and contemplated stealing the fluffy grey sweater that Gus had brought with him. Before he could put anymore thought into the potential theft, they were pulling up to the Arlington High schools parking lot. Instead of it being full of other student's cars though, it was full of police cruisers and even a few SWAT cars. A few teenagers in thin long sleeved shirts and skinny jeans walked past them up towards the building. Shawn shivered at the sight of them, feeling cold all ready. All too soon Lassiter had parked as close to the building as possible and was getting ready to open the door.

"Wait LASSIE!" Shawn suddenly cried pressing the lock button on the door. Lassiter sighed in irritation.

"What?" He half yelled half cried pressing the unlock button.

"Its, cold out there I-" With a loud sigh Lassiter ignored the rest of Shawn's sentence and shoved the door open letting in a blast of cold air that none of the Californians were accustomed to. Instantly Shawn's teeth began to chatter and he pulled his thin blue sweater tighter around his body. Being as overdramatic as humanly possible the pseudo psychic shook his shoulders violently and walked/ran towards the school. This being the first time he had ever wanted to get inside a school so badly in his life. Running in through the glass doors that led to the immense gymnasium Shawn sighed in relief when the doors behind him snapped shut, cutting off the outside air. Slowly regaining warmth inside the toasty school Shawn decided to look around while he waited for the rest of his team to catch up with him. For some reason they were walking around out there like it wasn't the begging of a second ice age. Looking to his right Shawn saw a case of school trophies proudly declaring the, Arlington Eagles victorious on various different sports. In front of him were four sets of doors leadinging into a huge gym and on his left was a concession stand that was closed and locked down tight with a metal sliding door. Feeling a blast of cold air on his back Shawn stopped his examination of the school and watched as the team walked into the building casually.

"Took you long enough." Shawn quipped walking towards the double doors in front of him.

"Yeah, that's because were not-"

"So is this convention thing in here?" Shawn asked cutting off the rest of Gus's sentence. Gus glared at him and opened his mouth to rebuttal, but before he could utter a single vowel Shawn cut him off once again.

"Eh, I've heard it both ways." He mumbled distractedly peering in through the small window on the gym door. Gus gasped like an indignant mother and crossed his arms over his chest moodily. Sometimes he really had no idea why he and Shawn were friends.

"Yes, Spencer that's where the convention is being held. Now if you don't mind-" Lassier grabbed Shawn's shoulder and yanked it backwards, shoving Shawn out of the way, he pushed in front of the pseudo psychic and strode into the gym confidently, followed by Juliet and Gus. Walking past Shawn, Gus stuck his nose up in the air haughtily, and ignored Shawn's pouting face. Shawn rolled his eyes and followed everyone into the gym last. His over attentive mind going into overdrive as he took in the huge space around him.

"Whoa, Gus! There's...so may cops here!" Shawn gasped examining the capacious area he was standing in. The whole gym was pact full of little tables decorated with police weapons. Badges, awards for various categories, posters depicting _Americas_ most wanted, posters depicting each _states_ most wanted, each _counties _most wanted. In the middle of it all was a ring of blue mats set up in the middle of the floor, ready for eager police officers to show off their moves.

"That's because were at a police convention, Shawn." Gus responded sending Shawn a weird look. Shawn shook his head, unable to retort while his photographic memory was being overloaded with all of the stuff he was seeing. He memorized names and faces, subconsciously counted hats, picked out every hot girl within his field of vision, and memorized each booths placement.

"Look Gus! There's another door leading to another gym on BOTH sides of this gym! How much room could a stupid police convention need?" Shawn asked still memorizing every detail in the room. Lassiter shot Shawn a dirty look.

"This convention is for every police officer in the state, Spencer." The detective explained also examining the room. Shawn made a face at him,

"Meeh meeh meh Spencer..." The adult/child mocked watching as Lassiters hand twitched towards his gun.

"Carlton. Shawn. Stop fighting! The chief of the Arlington police department is coming this way, and were supposed to be making a good impression." Juliet suddenly mumbled talking for the first time all morning. Shawn glanced up and nearly chocked on his own saliva.

"Dude!" He yelped grabbing Gus's arm and pulling him towards the far end of the gym. Juliet and Lassiter stared at Shawn's retreating form.

"What was that all about?" Juliet asked watching as Shawn pulled Gus into the second gym. Lassiter shrugged one shoulder casually,

"Who cares, at least now he wont be able to embarrass us." The head detective grumbled, almost cheerfully as Arlington's Chief of police walked up to them.

* * *

**Shotty ending. But oh well, all will be explained in the next chapter. Also this is just filler, but soon, SOON I will bring on the action. ****Oh and…I don't know how you guys feel about this fic takeing a slightly darker turn. More angst (not a WHOLE lot), and lotsa whump…but I think that's where I may take it…**


	4. It begins

**This may all seem boring and unnecessary, but its not. Its all necessary to the story. I think. Sometimes these things don't go the way I want. **

"Shawn! What the hell!" Gus hissed pulling his arm out of his best friends vice grip.

"Dude!" Shawn hissed pushing Gus through the gym doors and behind a strange sign advertising the terminator for something.

"Did you see him?" he asked the panic clear in his voice.

"See who?" Gus asked wearily all ready suspicious of Shawns answer. Shawn looked up and the ceiling and let his shoulders slump in a dramatic display of exasperation.

"I can't believe you!" He said letting out an epically loud sigh that attracted the attention of quiet a few people.

"Shut up Shawn. Stop being so dramatic and just tell me who you saw." Gus mumbled quietly trying to get Shawn to be less conspicuous.

"Un-"a large hand landed heavily on Shawn's shoulder, cutting off the rest of his sentence. Turning to look at who ever had interrupted him so rudely, Shawn was met with the friendly smile of a tall officer with dark brown hair.

"May I help you?" Shawn asked politely while trying to shrug off the officers bear sized hand. The officer didn't let go.

"Yes, I'm sorry but this is a function for police personal only. No civilians allowed." The cop said smiling pleasantly, showing off a mouth full of sparkling white teeth. Shawn looked around for Lassie or Jules. Of course they were no were in site, he and Gus had run off and hid from them. Well, Shawn had run off and pulled a reluctant Gus with him. Not finding the detectives he switched tactics.

"What about _her_!" he asked, spotting a chubby girl with long blond hair and a very bright purple shirt with that cartoon character, Flapjack on it. The cop glanced over at the girl who was talking to a crossing guard. "She's not a cop!" Shawn continued. The girl looked to be round 16 and she definitely didn't have that distinctive cop like air about her.

"She's a volunteering student." Mr. Know-it-all replied, removing his hand from Shawn's shoulder finally. Gus stepped in, deciding that Shawn had made a big enough fool out of himself for one day.

"We are consultants for the SBPD. We're here with Head Detective Carlton Lassiter and Detective Juliet O'Hara." He explained using his most charming salesman voice.

"What kind of consultant?" Mr. Cop-man asked taking a step back and looking at the duo again, as if seeing them I'm a completely different light. Shawn smiled widely.

"Shawn Spencer. Head Psychic Detective for the SBPD!" He declared using his made up title and smirking smugly. The cop's eye brows raised and he put his hands on his hips in a way that reminded Shawn of Buzz.

"Really! Well, can you predict something?" The Buzz impersonator asked looking at Shawn expectantly. Shawn smiled internally, enjoying the attention, and ignored Gus's exasperated eye roll.

"Well…Your name is-"Shawn squeezed his eyes shut and placed his finger to his temples as if concentrating hard. Cracking his eye open a little he read the cops name tag for the first time, and nearly broke out laughing. Stealing himself he took a deep breath and let loose his psychic prediction.

"Your name is McDonald, you live alone in an apartment that has recently been flooded and you haven't been able to get someone to go in and fix it yet. You ate captain Crunch this morning and you're taking tap dancing lessons from a tall blond, Russian lady. Named Olga." Shawn explained guessing on the Russian named Olga part. Honestly the guy looked like he was a total mess. It was obvious he was having a bad day, the rest of the little clues were planted all over the cops body as if someone had put them there. Shawn wondered for a few seconds how no one else ever noticed these things. He sighed dramatically as if tired out by his own prediction and slumped into Gus who pushed him forward in irritation. McDonald smiled widely in amazement!

"Wow!" he whispered looking at Shawn in something that resembled a mix of shock and awe. "You got everything right!" he gasped clapping Shawn on the shoulder in a much friendlier manner.

"Even the part about the Russian?" Shawn asked, feeling very pleased with himself. Gus elbowed Shawn in the ribs and Shawn backpedaled,

"I mean, of course I got that part right!" McDonald smiled widely and then turned around,

"Paige!" He called out gaining the chubby blond girls attention. She jogged over and stared at McDonald nervously.

"Yes?" She mumbled quietly, her grey eyes locking onto a spot on the ground.

"Could you please take these two over there and get them name tags so that they aren't harassed by any other cops." He exclaimed jokingly. The blond girl nodded slowly and looked over in Shawn's general direction.

"Okay, um, follow me." She said so quietly Shawn had to strain to hear her. She began walking towards the entrance of the Gym and Shawn couldn't help but try and start up a conversation with the nervous and jittery teenager.

"So, why'd you volunteer for a police convention if you're so nervous around them?" He asked stepping up next to her.

"Shawn, leave her alone." Gus snapped knowing that Shawn was probably going to irritate the poor girl.

"I'm not scared of Cops." The girl mumbled walking up to a table covered in all sorts of name tags. Shawn and Gus stood behind the table and watched as Paige bent over and dug under the table, looking for something.

"I'm just scared of people in general." She stood up, a name tag and a marker in hand and passed them over to Gus.

"Well, then why did you volunteer to work around a bunch of people?" Shawn asked pulling the marker and name tags out of Gus's hands and setting them on the table.

"Hey!" Gus snapped indignantly, but was ignored. Paige fidgeted with the name tags in front of her and replied,

"Well, because my friend wanted me to come help her." She mumbled taking back the blue sharpie when Shawn was done writing his name on both name tags. Pulling off the back of the sticker Shawn slapped his name onto his shirt and then handed Gus his name tag. Gus glared angrily at it but decided it would be best not to make a big deal out of the name that Shawn had written down. Paige scooted to the edge of the table when she saw that the two consultants were taken care of.

"Well, if you, um, need me I'll just be over there at the SWAT team table." She whispered,

"But it was nice meeting you, Shawn. And you too," She paused and looked away from Gus as if slightly embarrassed, "um, Nancy Drew…" turning on her heel she walked away briskly. Shawn broke out into a fit of giggles and held up his hand for Gus to fist bump.

"Why would I fist bump you for giving me a stupid name!" Gus snapped eyeing Shawn's raised fist angrily.

"Well, it was Nancy Drew, Sherlock Holmes, or Bill Bucker." Shawn laughed turning around and scanning the gym for Lassie or Jules.

"Bill Buckner was not a Detective Shawn." Gus snapped also scanning the gym for the two detectives. Spotting them the pharmaceutical rep gasped loudly.

"Shawn!" He gapped looking over at his best friend. Shawn made eye contact with Gus knowingly. "Is that-" Shawn nodded gravely.

"Uncle Matt." He mumbled, most of the hyperactive energy whooshing away at the sight of his mother's brother. Gus shook his head. Suddenly Shawn's erratic dash into the other room made so much more sense.

"Let's go, before he sees us…" Shawn mumbled tugging on Gus's sleeve. Gus made a clicking noise in his throat.

"Uh, Shawn. I think he's spotted us…." He said pulling his arm away from Shawn who had started to make a break for the other Gym again. Shawn looked up and gulped loudly. Lassie and Jules were heading their way, an angry looking Chief of police following closely behind.

"Shawn!" Chief Sanders barked pushing past Lassiter and Juliet rudely. Shawn winced, his Uncle's tone of voice bringing up bad memories. Shawn nodded at his uncle curtly. His normal hyperactive demeanor somewhat subdued much to the amazement of Juliet and Lassiter. Unfortunately, Gus recognized Shawn's angry reaction all to well.

"It's been a long time boy." Alex continued, talking in a way that most would mistake as a friendly nostalgic greeting. Shawn sighed inwardly and looked over at Gus for help. Both of them knew, when it came to Uncle Alex, there was no such thing as 'friendly'. Noticing Shawn's look Alex glanced over at Gus, his eye brows rising slightly in shock as if just noticing Shawn best friend for the first time.

"Burton!" Alex snapped, a small amount of the perpetual irritation melting away from his face. A very, very small amount.

"Um, Hello." Gus greeted holding his hand out shyly. Alex took it and shook vigorously forcing Gus to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from wincing.

"I can't believe you're still hanging around my little sister's kid!" Alex barked out a harsh laugh, waiting for Gus's reply. Gus just nodded, much to Lassiter's amazement. The Head Detective had been waiting for Gus's rebuttal. All morning both Shawn and Gus had been going at each other with childlike and petty insults. Seeing Gus pass up a chance to insult his best friend was definitely setting alarm bells off in Lassiter's mind. Pushing the thoughts aside, Lassiter continued to watch the exchange, with a little more interest. Alex let go of Gus's hand and set his Glare back on Shawn.

"You doing anything useful with your life yet? Or are you still a lazy, immature, waste of oxygen?" Arlington's chief snapped, causing Lassiter's eye brows to rise in surprise once again. He didn't detect a hint of playful joking in this mans voice. Just pure contempt. A strange noise came from his right, looking over he saw that it had come from his partner. Juliet was glaring at the exchange happening before her. Her fists clenched tightly and her cheeks slightly pink.

"No." Shawn snapped back, his scowl matching his Uncle's.

"I'm actually working with the SBPD. Solved all of my cases too, how's _your_ solve rate?" Shawn snapped. Leaving out the Head Psychic part, which did not go unnoticed by Lassiter. Alex glared at his nephew but before he could respond Shawn made a little, 'oh' noise and smacked his head as if he had just realized something.

"That's right; you don't actually _have_ any real crime here in Arlington. The most action you see is teenagers making out in the back seat of their cars. Good thing too, you're looking a little bit bigger around the middle since the last time I saw you, _Uncle._" Shawn snapped smacking his Uncles protruding stomach. Alex's face turned a dangerous shade of red and Lassiter swore he saw hesitation and even a little bit of fear flash across Shawn's face.

"You're still the little smart ass you were when _I _last saw _you_, aren't you boy." Alex growled quietly. Without waiting for a response Alex grabbed Shawn around the bicep tightly.

"You'll excuse us Detectives, Gus, but I need to have a chat with my Nephew." Alex through over his shoulder, dragging Shawn off towards the main entrance of the gym.

"What was that about?" Lassiter asked actually feeling slightly concerned about Shawn. He was a member of the SBPD after all and as such Shawn was his responsibility for the duration of the trip.

"That's Shawn's Uncle. Ever since I can remember Uncle Alex has been…" Gus hesitated and glanced back at the door his best friend and his best friend's Uncle had disappeared behind.

"Mean?" Juliet supplied taking a deep calming breath. Gus nodded.

"Yeah, but for some reason he's always just really hated Shawn. Even when Shawn was really little. He used to always yell at him and call him a bunch of names." Gus continued running a hand over his bald head.

"How young are we talking?" Lassiter asked intrigued. Gus shrugged,

"Well, the first time I ever saw Alex was at Shawn's family reunion when we were both, six or sevenish." Lassiter made a face. It was one thing to harass a grown man, but harassing a seven year old boy? Even if he _was _Shawn? That seemed a little harsh. Even for him. Noticing Juliet's look of pure unadulterated rage Gus place a hand on the female detectives shoulder.

"Try Lamaze breathing. When it comes to Shawn, nothing works better." Juliet took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

**PSYCH!**

Alex shoved Shawn up against a wall. Wincing Shawn rubbed his sore arm and watched his uncle pace back and forth in front of him smugly.

"You little shit!" Alex finally snapped getting right up in Shawn's face. Shawn rolled his eyes and waved a hand in front of his nose confidently.

"Dude, I know its gunna sound cliché, but, breath. Mint." Shawn smiled slightly and let his hand fall to his side. His uncle's face was turning a dark shade of purple and Shawn knew there was only so much button pressing he could do before he got decked in the face. Alex raised a finger and pointed it in Shawn's face. Shawn flinched and looked at it cross eyed, but before he had a chance to call Shawn all the bad things that where running through his mind, the sound of frantic footsteps reached their ears. Simultaneously looking to their left they saw a girl walking down the hallway slowly. Both men stared at her silently, When the girl reached them and stood in front of the two quietly. Taking in her appearance, Shawn realized it was the girl that had given him and Gus their name tags. Upon further inspection he saw that the girl's shoes were covered in blood.

"Paige?" He asked reaching out and touching her shoulder. She looked up at Shawn, her grey eyes wide in terror. Grabbing Shawn's sleeve she pulled on it.

"She needs your help." Paige mumbled tugging on Shawn's sleeve harder. Alex grabbed the girl's wrist and pulled it away from Shawn's sleeve.

"This idiot won't be able to help you, now tell me who needs help." He snapped letting go of the girls hand when she yanked it away.

"She needs help!" Paige repeated a little more firmly. Shawn nodded.

"Okay." He started, hearing the panic raising in the girls voice.

"She needs your help!" This time Paige scram the phrase loudly and pointed down the hallway tears welling up and cascading down her cheeks. Shawn didn't need anymore initiation, taking off down the hallway he left the crying girl to his uncle. Passing a few class rooms, Shawn reached the end of the hallway which let out into a huge open space, Shawn assumed that this was the schools cafeteria, if the lunch tables placed around the room were anything to go by.

"Hello?" The pseudo psychic called out, looking for whoever it was that needed help. When he didn't receive an answer he looked down and found Paige's bloody foot prints. They were leading to the opposite side of the cafeteria into a separate hallway. Treading carefully, so as not to disturb any evidence, Shawn followed the bloody foot prints to a stair case. He ran a hand threw his hair at the sight that greeted him. Sprawled across the bottom part of the stairs was a body.

"Well, shit." Shawn sighed putting his hand on his hips.

**Uncle Matt. Man, I'm gunna have fun with him. Hehe, he is so going to be one angry, ass holeish JERK! Its gunna be so angsty and great! More action in the next chapter, I PROMISE! **


	5. Hunter Gatherer

**It all ties together. This isn't just a random story with no plot, each sentence is meticulously placed, every detail has a double meaning. Nothing in this is random. Nooothing…..maybe….**

* * *

The girl was lying upside down at the bottom of the stair case. Her legs were still on the stairs; one of them was bent at an awkward angle. Her neck was backwards, and there was a pool of blood gathering around her head. There were also deep purple bruises encircling her neck. _Defiantly strangled and pushed down the stairs_… Shawn thought to himself squatting down to examine the body more closely. He saw Paige's foot prints and guessed that the teenager had walked over here, stepped in the blood and had immediately run off to find help. Shawn stood up and took a huge step backwards. Scanning the surrounding area he looked around for any other kind of evidence.

"Jesus!" a voice behind him suddenly barked. Shawn cringed, instantly recognizing the angry voice of his uncle. Turning around Shawn's eyes got wide.

"You brought her with you!" Shawn gasped looking at Paige who was standing behind his uncle. She was staring at the dead girl with wide horrified grey eyes. Something clicked in Shawn's head when he watched the girl take a short little breath and then let it out, and then breath in sharply again.

"Stay here, while I call in for back up." Alex commanded half jogging half waddling toward the front of the school.

"You knew her didn't you?" Shawn asked directing Paige away from the dead body and over to one of the schools round lunch tables. Pulling out a chair she flopped down in it and continued to take short, quick little gasping breaths.

"Her-gasp-name-gasp-is-gasp-Taylor…" Paige fanned her face quickly and Shawn rubbed her back comfortingly, whishing the girl would calm down enough to tell him everything she knew, before the Arlington police came and refused to let him help out. Suddenly Shawn's pocket vibrated and emitted a loud shrill version of the song, 'Shout' causing Paige to jump a little. Digging in his pocket, Shawn pulled out his green cased iphone and hit the answer button.

"What's up Gus?" Shawn greeted cheerfully, still rubbing the hyperventilating girls back.

"Where are you Shawn? We got worried and came out of the gym to make sure your uncle hadn't killed you and you weren't…Shawn what's that noise?" Gus asked suspiciously. Apparently not only having a super sniffer, but super hearing as well.

"Oh, you remember that Paige girl right? Well that's just her hyperventilating. I could really use you right now buddy." Shawn continued in a quieter voice," You know I can't handle crying people…." He mumbled into the phone shooting a nervous glace in Paige's direction. There was a pause on the other end of the phone.

"Why is she hyperventilating Shawn?" Gus asked softly, worry clear in his voice.

"I really shouldn't talk about that in front of her. But since I know your currently looking for us, I'll just save you the trouble and tell you that were in the cafeteria." Just keep walking down the hallway your in and you should find us." Shawn explained removing his hand from Paige's back and hanging up the phone. Shawn turned back to Paige, who had calmed down enough to speak. Just in time too, because Shawn could hear the sound of screaming sirens in the distance.

"Now, Paige, do you think you could answer some questions for me?" Shawn asked looking at the girl's red and puffy face. She just nodded, avoiding his eyes.

"All right can you tell me everything that you saw?" Shawn asked a little bluntly. He needed answers and he needed them fast. Those sirens were getting closer. Paige's breath hitched in her throat but she pushed on, a lot calmer then she had been a few moments ago.

"I heard some weird noises when I was going to the attendance office to get more coffee mix for the cops. I heard…a weird sound. Like wood or a bat or something, hitting metal and then I heard the same sound, but it was more muffled, softer. And then I heard the-the-" Paige swallowed hard and for a moment Shawn was afraid she was going to start crying again. Steeling herself Paige took a deep breath and continued on,

"And then I heard…thumping noises…like someone falling, and went to investigate." Paige finished looking shaken. Shawn nodded,

"How did you know her?" he asked.

Her name, is-was" she shook her head, "Is, Taylor, and she was-is- my really good friend. I kne- I've known her since the first grade." Shawn nodded encouragingly and pushed on, ignoring the wave of police led by his Uncle that walked past him briskly.

"Did she have any enemies? People that would want to hurt her?" He asked hoping that they would be ignored for a little while longer.

"Yeah, lots of people hate her. She's not exactly nice to everyone." Paige sniffed her eyes lighting up a little.

"Except for me, she's always been nice to me."

"Do you have any idea who may have done this to her?" He asked noticing Gus out of the corner of his eye. Gus walked up behind Shawn and stood quietly, he recognized his friend was in serious questioning mode, similar to his own Jackal mode, and he didn't want to mess anything up.

"No." Paige croaked clenching her fists.

"Did you notice any suspicious, out of character things going on with her lately?"

"No."

"Well what about any strange people?" Shawn asked getting exasperated. Paige shook her head violently her dark blond hair flying about her head wildly.

"No I-"she paused suddenly and looked up at Shawn's face for the first time since he had met the shy girl.

"There was a man." She suddenly whispered, tearing her gaze away from Shawn.

"When I saw Taylor lying on the stairs, I was looking at her but then I heard a noise and when I looked up, there was a man."

"Do you remember what he looked like?" Shawn asked smiling internally. If he solved this case before his uncle did, he would have bragging rights for all eternity! Shawn pondered that thought internally, was that inappropriate?

"Shawn, don't push her…"Gus whispered quietly, snapping Shawn back to the real world. Looking over at the girl Shawn noticed that she was shaking horribly and the only amount of color on her face were two red splotches on her cheeks. She grabbed Shawn's arm when she saw a group of police men approaching them.

"Blue pants!" She hissed clutching Shawn's sleeve desperately; like she didn't have any time left but still had a lot of things to say.

"He was wearing blue pants, but I didn't see anything else. Just blue pants. Blue pants! He was wearing blue pants!" Paige dissolved again; she started hyperventilating and wrapped her arms around herself tightly. She looked down at the table and stared at it as if it would give her some kind of comfort. Before Shawn could ask another question a high pitched voice rang out behind him.

"What is going on here?" it snapped drawing Shawn's attention. A women in her thirty's with long golden blond hair put up in a messy bun was marching over to them, two uniformed cops right behind her. She was wearing a plain pink dress that went down to her knees and a long, white crisp lab coat.

"Uh," Shawn started articulately standing up quickly like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Oh!" The women gasped pulling at the hem of her white lab coat and adjusting the pink horn rimmed glasses on her face.

"Just look what you've done to this girl! She's a complete mess! I don't know who you are but your in a lot of trouble and-" Shawn stepped forward and stood very close to the women. Grabbing her hand he smiled brightly and batted his eyelashes flirtatiously. Shawn guessed she was some sort of psychologist, if her reaction to the disheveled girl weeping behind him was anything to go by. Shawn laid the charm on thick.

"My name is Shawn Spencer, I work with the SPBD and I was trying to comfort this poor, poor girl behind me. Such a tragedy, what she saw, I took her away from the crime scene as soon as possible. I didn't want her stress to trigger something. I think she may be suffering from PMS."

"PTSD!" Gus hissed, discreetly elbowing Shawn in the side. Shawn jumped and corrected himself,

"PTSD! PTSD!" Sorry, I just have so many people coming to me for concealing and comfort, but I'm no psychologist. Its not as easy as many think it is." Shawn rushed hoping that his little PMS mix up would be forgotten. The women blushed lightly and pulled her hand away from Shawn's grasp.

"Oh, thank you! My names Kami, I'm the psychologist for the Arlington police department." She gushed proudly, giggling madly.

"Kami." Shawn cooed gooely.

"What a beautiful exotic name. If you don't mind. May I continue talking with Paige? She's already familiar with me and I wouldn't want to expose her to any kind of change that would cause her any discomfort." Shawn said raising his eyebrows hopefully. Kami blushed again and looked back at the cops behind her.

"Of course that would be okay. You seem like a rather down to earth, capable person." Take as much time as you need with her and when you think she's ready then just send her my way for her psyceatric evaluation." Kami winked at him and spun around on her red high heeled foot. Grabbing the two cops behind her by the arm she spun them around and walked away towards the general direction of the body. Her ample hips swinging provocatively. Shawn stared at her for a few seconds before turning around and plopping down in his chair in front of Paige.

"Okay Paige, do you remember anything else about the man you saw?" Shawn asked compassion coloring his face, Paige remained quiet and stared down at the table, her right hand twitching up and down in a weird way.

"Paige?"

"Um Shawn..." Gus mumbled watching the pale girl worriedly.

"Paige?" Shawn asked again. Watching as the girl continued to twitch and stare aimlessly.

"I think that's all you're going to get from her, Shawn." Gus mumbled placing a hand on Shawn's shoulder. Standing up Shawn cast Paige one last sidelong glance. She was still twitching and staring silently.

"If you have anymore information just ask for me. My name is Shawn Spencer. Just ask Chief Sanders for me. He loves me." Shawn waited a few second for a response, but when he didn't get one he shook his head a little bit and walked away. Gus following closely behind.

* * *

**Hahahaha, guys there is stuff going down. This is when It all starts. Im really proud of myself for this. Cuz this time I actually KNOW who the bad guy is and Im planting clues. maybe...someone guess! someone guess who it is!**


	6. No, No, No and NO!

**I have no clue how to describe this stupid staircase that Taylor is all dead on. Its like a stair case that goes to another hallway that runs parallel to the staircase, so there's a railing above the stair case…gah! That's the best way I can describe it! I can try and explain it better in the story, but I know it wonnt make sense, which is why I added this additional explanation. Grr. **

**That aside, its uncle ALEX! Alex alex ALEXXX AlEx Aleeex. If you see any Matts then its wrong and should be ALEX! I know Ive told people other wise, but im obviously an idiot and am now marking it as ALEX!**

* * *

"What are we going to do now?" Gus asked following Shawn back to the scene of the crime.

"Were going to go and look for more evidence!" Shawn explained walking up to the stair case currently occupied by the victims bleeding body.

"Ugh!" Gus smacked both hands over his mouth and nose, his 'super sniffer' picking up the metallic scent of blood permitting from the crime scene. Even Shawn could faintly smell the blood coming from around the body. Predicting his best friend's next likely action Shawn mumbled,

"The garbage can is over on your right." Gus breathed in through his teeth and made a beeline for the specified trash container. The cops hadn't taken care of the body yet and it was still bent in grotesque angles, which only added to Gus's need to vomit. Looking up the staircase, Shawn noticed a hallway running parallel to the stairs. The only thing that kept people from jumping from the hallway down onto the stairs was a railing that was about waist high. Ignoring the body and his vomiting best friend Shawn jogged up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Making it to the top he looked down at the body, to try and determined the way the girl had fallen. It looked like the girl had fallen all the way to the bottom of the stairs without even attempting to catch herself on the railings.

"She was probably dead before she fell..." Shawn mumbled to himself, watching as Gus climbed up the stairs, his stomach void of all the food that he had eaten this morning. His dark skin was one shade lighter and his eyes were locked Shawn, determined not to look at the body below him. A man with a vest labeled CSI walked past Shawn just as Gus reached his pseudo psychic best friend. Ignoring Gus and the various other cops milling about, Shawn walked over to the railing above the stair case and examined it closely. There was a little silver dent in the blue paint accompanied by small droplets of blood. Without touching the railing Shawn looked over it and saw even more, almost invisible droplets of blood on the stairs below and on the floor at his feet. There were also little scuff marks on the floor which didn't come from the girl, since she was wearing pink Styrofoam flip flops. It was amazing how much information he could glean from a crime scene, when the cops weren't butting in and messing everything up.

"Hmm." Shawn mumbled to himself taking a step back and placing a hand on his chin.

"What?" A voice behind him gasped

"I think I know what happened." Shawn replied turning to face Gus.

"You think?" Gus replied breathing through his mouth.

"Yeah, Taylor was strangled to death right here, dragged to the top of the stairs over there, and then pushed down them." Shawn explained.

"That's all?" Gus asked taking another deep breath.

"Gus! I know I'm good, but even I can't just walk up to a crime scene and solve it right away. But I'm flattered that you have such confidence in me." Shawn laughed at the insulted face that Gus made at him and started down the stairs excitedly. Gus following behind him a little apprehensively, looking at everything but Taylor's mangled body. Moving around the body Shawn examined the blood again. There were Paige's foot prints, leading through the cafeteria and then there was a single, size 14, boot print leading in the opposite direction and down a different hallway. Shawn made a face; the school was just a huge complicated jumble of hallways.

"Look Gus!" Shawn exclaimed, pointing at the boot mark. Gus looked up at the ceiling.

"You must be out of your damn mind if you think I'm gunna look at anything near that body." Gus hissed putting his hand on his hips and keeping his eyes trained on the ceiling above him.

"Guuuus!" Shawn whined glancing over at Taylor's body.

"No Shawn. Just tell me what you see." Gus snapped turning away from the body.

"Oh my gosh, fine but your not being a very good sport."

"This isn't a game! I'm not whining about losing a soccer game! This is a human body Shawn!" Gus snapped losing his patience.

"I seem to recall you _always_ whining whenever we played soccer together." Shawn smirked, and turned to look at Gus's back.

"That's because you would pick up the ball and throw it at me whenever we played."

"I don't remember doing that." Shawn made a tsking noise and waved his hand in the air dismissively.

"You also pained all my soccer balls black and pretended you were juggling bowling balls one time!" Gus continued, ignoring Shawn's comment.

"Let's go down this hallway and see if there are anymore foot prints!" Shawn suddenly blurted, both changing the subject and ignoring Gus's comments. Without actually waiting for a reply Shawn began down the hallway, his eyes trained on the floor looking for clues.

"SPENCER!" A voice suddenly yelled behind the Psychic, stopping him dead in his tracks. Shawn sighed internally and turned around slowly. Lassiter, Juliet and his uncle were standing a few feet away from the body. Shawn let his head fall and his shoulders slump. Dragging his feet he walked over to the group of people, completely dismayed. He had almost gotten away with all of the investigating. The mystery was on the tip of his tongue! He was so close to solving it! Now, with the polices interference, investigating the crime would become even more difficult. Reaching the group he looked up at Lassiter.

"I let you out of my site for five minuets and look what happens! The violent murder of a sixteen year old! and another teenage girl is so emotionally distraught that she won't even talk to anyone! but I guess it's my fault for assuming you can take care of yourself for any amount of time!" Lassiter snapped crossing his arms over his chest angrily. Shawn scoffed.

"As if that's _my_ fault. This isn't _my_ town I don't live here, He does." Shawn pointed his Chin at his uncle.

"He's the one that should be keeping the town safe. Not me." Shawn grumbled. His uncle glared angrily, not letting the jab slide.

"Well, all you've done is mess up an investigation with, foot prints, finger prints, and god knows what else! Not only that but you've destroyed a completely good witness before we could even ask her anything!" The Chief of police snapped, taking a step towards Shawn.

"I talked to her. And she told _me_ a lot. Maybe she just doesn't want to talk to you." Shawn suggested fluttering his eyelashes innocently. Gus sighed and ignored the two bickering men.

"So, what do we do now?" he asked, looking at Juliet and Lassiter. Juliet shrugged a shoulder.

"There's nothing we can do Gus. Washington is way out of our jurisdiction. We can't just investigate a crime out here." She explained, also ignoring Shawn and his Uncle. Years of working with Shawn and Gus had made both Juliet and Lassiter experts at ignoring trivial bickering.

"The only way we would be able to does anything would be if you two idiots go hired for the case as consultants." Lassiter mumbled irritably. The head detective didn't like not being able to investigate a murder when one occurred right in front of him like this. Gus thought for a second and then turned to look at Shawn and Alex. Grabbing Shawn's arm he pulled his friend away from the irate chief of police and over to the table that they had left Paige at earlier.

"Shawn you have to get us hired for this case!" Gus whispered fervently. Shawn looked at him in confusion. Normally he had to fight tooth and nail to get Gus to participate in _any_ sort of investigation. Thinking this, he asked the obvious question.

"Why?" Shawn pursed his lips and then continued without waiting for Gus's reply.

"Is it because you want me to totally show up Uncle Alex! Because that was my plan all along! If I could-"Gus crossed his arms over his chest angrily.

"A sixteen year old girl was violently murdered, that's why Shawn. Besides I _know_ you. You've probably already got a bunch of weird theories and clues that would help the police." There was silence between the two best friends for a few seconds.

"So you don't want me to show my uncle up?" Shawn asked

"Just get us hired!" Gus snapped, pushing Shawn towards his Uncle. Shawn smacked Gus's hands away. Chief Sanders watched Shawn wearily.

"Uncle, can I call you Uncle?" Shawn started approaching his uncle cautiously. Alex just raised a suspicious eye brow. "Let me just start off saying that, I have a 100% crime solving rate back in Santa Barbra, a city with a crime rate that is 98% higher then that of Washington. Alex scoffed at Shawn,

"Since when?" he asked.

"And I believe that because, I am used to solving crimes, and you are, obviously, not used to it since your little ol town hasn't seen a murder in over 45 years it would be in your best interest to hire a consultant." Shawn explained ignoring his uncle's previous question.

"Absolutely not." Alex snapped not even considering the idea. Shawn frowned.

"Why not!" He asked, almost whining.

"Because I don't need a no good, idiot like you ruining my investigation. You've already ruined one of the key witnesses!" Alex explained his face going slightly red. Shawn rolled his eyes,

"Yeah right, you're just worried that I'm going to solve the case before you and show you up." Alex's face turned a darker red then before and he took a menacing step towards Shawn. Shawn stood his ground; he could tell that his uncle was considering hiring him, even if the angry chief of police was still fighting the notion. What Shawn had said early about Arlington not having experienced a murder in over 45 years was true. Both Shawn and his uncle knew that the Arlington police could use the help.

"I'm not going to be goaded into allowing you onto this case with a few juvenile-"

"Besides." Shawn blurted loudly, cutting his uncle off. "I'm the only one that that Paige girl talked too."

"So?" His uncle snapped, his hands curling into fists.

"So? So, I'm the only one that knows who the murder is."

"And you're not going to tell me unless I hire you?" Alex growled getting right up in Shawn's face. Shawn smirked. "I could have you arrested for this!" Alex whispered tightly. Shawn's smirk turned into a full blown cocky smile.

"Or you could just hire me and I'll tell you. Unless you really are scared of a little competition." The look in Shawn's uncle's eyes was enough to cause the pseudo psychic to recoil a bit. He wouldn't put it past his uncle to his him right in font of everyone. And his uncle did not pull his punches, when he hit someone; he hit them to hurt them. Shawn knew from experience. To Shawn's great relief though, his uncle to a huge step back, the glare and murderous look never leaving his face.

"Fine you little dip shit. You're hired."

* * *

**SO I wrote this a long time ago, and I'm just now going back and editing it up and fixing it so that its ripe for posting and while I was re-reading this I found an ANIMEreference that I made! It's really vague. But its there. I wonder if anyone can possibly find it? hehehe. like I said, its SUPER vague.**

**Ehh, just to set the record straight, There was a murder in Arlington a while back. Okay, but when I first started writing this story, our death toll had been zero for a good 45 years. Soo, that's not the case anymore. Just saying. **

**Oh and the real chief of police here isnt like Alex Sanders. I made him up. Sooo, don't think our police here incompetent…I really don't know the level of their competence, for I have never needed them... I wonder...is this story some form of slander?**


	7. Peice's of the Puzzle

**Sorry about the long wait, but we got our internet cut off so I couldn't really post anything. But now its back, and I have a brand sparkling blue new laptop. I can type to my hearts content now. Hehehe. **

* * *

"So who did it?" Uncle Alex, the Chief of the Arlington police department asked after hiring his incredibly annoying nephew. Shawn put a hand to his temple and closed his eyes tightly. He seriously had no idea who did it. He had only said that to get hired. Thinking over all of the evidence so far, two things stood out in his mind. The first thing was the boot print leading down the hallway and away from any type of exit. Unless the culprit had jumped out of a window, which Shawn seriously doubted since the windows didn't open wide enough to allow that sort of thing, that meant he or she was still in the building, because the blood was still fresh. And any cars leaving the parking lot in a hurry would have been instantly noticed. Also taking into consideration the size of the boot it was safe to assume that he culprit was male. The second thing that stood out was Paige's declaration of blue pants. Looking down at the people in front of him Shawn noticed that they were all wearing dress pants while he was the only one wearing blue jeans. Which could mean that the culprit was also wearing blue jeans. Shawn instantly struck that thought from his mind. If the culprit was walking around in blue jeans then he would have attracted the attention of the many police officers that were roaming around searching for any civilians that weren't supposed to be there, cops like the McDonald guy who had almost kicked him and Gus out earlier. Looking over at a passing cop Shawn realized that he was wearing a pair of dark blue dress pants that matched his blue top.

"Blue pants." Shawn sighed, knowing he was right.

"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Alex snapped already getting extremely irritated. Shawn sighed again and dropped his arms at his sides limply. Opening his eyes he looked directly at his uncle, his face serious. He had to make sure his uncle took him seriously otherwise this could turn out very badly.

"The person who murdered that girl is a cop." Shawn mumbled lacking his normal dramatic flair. Instantly Shawn's Uncle went bright red.

"How dare you!" He hissed grabbing the front of Shawn's shirt and slamming him up against a near by wall. Shawn cringed, but he had been expecting this, so he wasn't all that surprised. Shawn rolled his eyes internally, and people said _he _was over dramatic.

"Your smug ass is going to get beaten one day. You think you can just waltz in here and accuse someone on MY force of being a murderer!" Alex hissed, pulling Shawn forward and slamming him up against the wall again. Shawn gasped in surprise, he had been expecting a violent reaction from his uncle, but not this violent of a reaction. Alex opened his mouth to say something again when a hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him backwards and away from Shawn. Not expecting someone to step in like that Shawn was surprised when he saw that the person who had intervened was Lassiter. Alex smacked the hand off of his shoulder and glared daggers at Lassiter. To his credit Lassiter didn't back down either. Instead glaring all sorts of pointy objects right back at the Chief of police.

"Back. Off." Lassiter finally growled out through clenched teeth. Alex looked like he was about to say something, but changed his mind and closed his mouth, Directing his attention back onto Shawn.

"I didn't say someone from _your_department was the one responsible. I just said that a police officer, at this convention, was the one responsible." Shawn mumbled putting his hand on his chin in thought. Alex's face turned red in embarrassment. Lassiter, Juliet and Gus all stared at Alex suspiciously. There was another tense moment where an awkward silence hung in the air. Everyone knew that all the police officers in the gym had to be accounted for, but no one wanted to tell Alex to go and get on the head check task. Afraid of how he would react. Finally Juliet stepped up to the plate. Seeing as she was the only one that hadn't yet pissed off the always angry Chief of police.

"We need to account for everyone in the gym." She stated.

"I know that." Alex snapped angrily. There were a few more tense seconds when no one knew what Alex was going to do. Finally after a little grumbling he walked away quickly. Much to the relief of the people he was leaving. After he was out of earshot Juliet let out a loud frustrated groan. Shawn looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm sorry Shawn but I really don't like your uncle." she growled crossing her arms over her chest. Much to Shawn and Gus' surprise Lassiter nodded in agreement.

"Me either." He grumbled. Shawn smiled broadly.

"Well get in line, because no one likes him. Not even my dad. It's like the only thing we ever agreed on." Shawn looked over at Gus who nodded.

"You know that's right." He said, holding up a clenched fist. Shawn bumped Gus's raised hand without thinking about it.

"You know what I think..." Lassiter suddenly said squinting as he strung his thoughts together.

"That Chief Sanders reaction was a little suspicious?" Juliet continued for her partner, catching onto his line of thought. Shawn looked up at them surprised.

"Whoa whoa whoa! You guys think my uncle did it?" he gasped, Juliet looked at him uncomfortably.

"Yes. I mean he did act really suspicious when you said a police officer did it." Juliet looked apologetic. "Does your uncle have any violent tendencies?" Juliet asked quietly, pulling out a note pad. Shawn and Gus exchanged looks.

"Yes! Are you kidding me! He would always smack me around during our family reunions!" Shawn exclaimed looking over at Gus. "Remember that one time when he punched me in the head and I got a black eye!" Shawn asked elbowing Gus in the ribs. Gus rolled his eyes,

"That's because you took the hose, walked right up to him and sprayed him in the face, _while _he was eating. It was your own fault. You knew he was going to pun-" Juliet looked at Shawn, a horrified expression coloring her features. Lassiter had a similar, but much more subtle look of shock on his face. Shaking his head he plowed on,

"So he's got a violent history. Were going to do some investigating of our own. Just keep your nose out of it. When we have something we'll tell you. Until then. Stay. Out. Of. It." Lassiter commanded. Flipping his phone open and walking away, Juliet close behind. As soon as they were gone, Gus whistled quietly.

"Do you really think your uncle did it?" He asked turning his gaze on Shawn.

"Gus! Don't be week old Top Raman. Of course my uncle didn't do it. He was with me the whole time, and Paige said she _heard _Taylor fall down the stairs. She also said she _saw_ the bad guy up at the top of the stairs!" Shawn waved his hand dismissively.

"Well then why are you letting Lassiter and Juliet investigating your uncle!"

"Because, Gussy poo, it will keep them out of my awesome hair while I find the _real _murderer _and_, I'm all for them causing problems for my uncle." Shawn explained laughing quietly. Gus rolled his eyes.

"All right, well then what are we supposed to do now?" Gus asked.

"Well, the killer ran off down the hallway leading away from the cafeteria. And when I was talking to Paige, she said that she heard a thump like something hitting metal. And then the same sound, only softer. I'll bet you my whole collection of Chips DVDs that the murder weapon we're looking for is a baton." Shawn explained excitedly.

"How do you know she was killed with a baton? How do you know that the fall down the stairs didn't kill her? Or something else?" Gus asked putting his hands on his hips. Shawn rolled his eyes like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Because, Gus, There was a huge purple bruise on her forehead when I looked at the body. And when Taylor went down the stairs she didn't even _try_to catch herself! Which means someone hit her in the head with something. Aaaandd, waaait for it-" Shawn paused, "Paige said she heard a thumping noise, like something hitting metal, and there were little dents in the metal up on the railing up there!" Shawn pointed a finger behind his head gesturing in the vague area of the crime scene. "So what I'm thinking is that the killer swung-" Shawn swung his arm at Gus to illustrate, Gus moved before Shawn was able to land a hit,

"Missed, and then swung again, this time hitting the girl in the head!" Shawn declared smacking Gus in the side of the head.

"Then he strangled her and pushed her down the stairs?" Gus asked, feeling slightly nauseous. "Why would someone do that? It seems like serious over kill. Whoever did this must have really hated that girl." Gus continued rubbing his neck sympathetically. Shawn just smiled widely,

"Right! And after the whole, Ker splat klank bloosh, Paige ran to go and see what all the noise was about, spotted Taylor, and startled the killer! She ran off, and he ran down the stairs and down the hall!" Shawn hypothesized. Gus cringed,

"Was it necessary to make those sound affects?" He asked eyeing Shawn worriedly. Shawn just ignored him and continued on with his theory,

"Then, after he ran down the hallway and realized it was a dead end, he hid the weapon, and cleaned the blood off of his shoes somehow! Because no cop would leave blood on his shoes! That would just be stupid! Unable to leave the convention without being suspicious, he's probably planning on coming back and getting rid of the evidence later! We just have to find it before he has the chance to do that, and THEN I'll have solved this case in record breaking time!" Shawn finished dramatically, panting slightly. Gus stared at Shawn skeptically.

"That seems a little far fetched Shawn. Why would a cop even want to kill a 16 year old high school girl?" He asked.

"Who knows _why_ Gus, maybe she ate the last bear claw or something, when we catch him, using my awesome detective skills, we can ask him why." Shawn snapped not happy with his best friends attempt to poke holes in his theory.

"We need to find this evidence fast Gus. Who knows how much time we'll have before my uncle or the killer intervenes!" He paused and thought about something.

"We should split up." Shawn finally declared. Gus Glared at Shawn.

"First of all, your so called _theory_, still seems like an extreme long shot. There's no motive behind it! And, you came up with it in like _five_ minutes-"

"Yeah after I spent like thirty examining the crime scene…" Shawn interjected indignantly. Gus ignored him and continued on,

"And secondly, stop making a bunch of jokes and acting insensitive! Also, supposing your right, I'm not splitting up to look for some super psycho's murder weap-"

"GUS!" Shawn yelled. Gus jumped in surprise and stopped mid rant.

"Gus." Shawn continued quieter, "We need to find the murderer _before_ this convention ends tonight. If we let any of the cops in the gym out of our site, it will be that much harder to find the purpose traitor." Shawn explained. Gus rolled his eyes,

"It's perpetrator Shawn."

"Eh, they mean the same thing." Shawn waved his hand dismissively. "So are you going to help me look for the murder weapon? Or what?" Shawn asked excitedly.

"It seems too easy." Gus mumbled.

"That's because we haven't had a bunch of cops interfering and saying we can't help! Normally we have to sneak and snoop and do all this hard work, just to SEE the crime scene! This time, I saw it like, right after it happened!" Shawn explained grabbing Gus's shoulder. "So are you going to help me look for it or what?" Shawn asked already inching down the hallway. Gus rolled his eyes.

"If I don't come then you'll probably end up hurting yourself." The pharmaceutical salesman mumbled. Shawn smiled and they both started down the hallway.

* * *

**By the way have you ever even SMELLED week old Top Ramen? Oh god, it smells like poop and rotten eggs and vomit and dead animals, all mixed up into one nasty little bowl. Its bad, im tellin yuh.**


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